Support Us

Satellite News is not financially supported by Best Brains or any other entity. It is a labor of love, paid for out of our own pockets. If you value this site, we would be delighted if you showed it by making an occasional donation of any amount. Thanks.

Episode guide: K15- Superdome

By Sampo, on September 4th, 2014

Movie: (1978) A star-studded cast, each with their own subplot, descends on New Orleans for the Super Bowl, but a killer is on the loose.

First shown: 3/12/89Opening: In a letter to his uncle, Servo recalls how he almost talked the Mads into bringing Joel back to EarthHost segment 1: Still writing his letter, Servo recalls when Joel showed Servo what it’s like to feel painHost segment 2: Still writing his letter, Servo reveals that Joel isn’t really like his lovable on-air persona. His crabbiness seems to trigger recreations of memorable movie moments in the botsHost segment 3: Still writing his letter, Servo experiences a sentimental montageEnd: Joel and Crow show off some artwork sent in by viewers; then present the stuff you’ll get if you join the fan club. (117 votes, average: 4.26 out of 5)

Loading...

• The host segments in this episode appear to be a spoof of sitcom clipshow, although only one segment, the one in segment 1, features an actual clip from a previous episode (it’s from episode K13- SST DEATH FLIGHT), but the others were made to look like they were.
• For years, the only known existing copy this episode was missing the final host segment. That changed in October 2004, when the missing final segment came to light in the possession of a Minnesota woman named Teresa Dietzinger. She sent some artwork in to the show (it’s the first one shown in the final segment, she says she included her name on the drawing, nonetheless Joel says he can’t remember it and mistakenly assumes a guy did it). She taped the episode and held on to the tape for 16 years. Although her father long ago taped over the rest of the episode with family footage and such, the final host segment remained intact.
• Servo is typing on an old IBM Selectric (probably some KTMA office equipment). For you kids, that unfamiliar object is called a “typewriter.” You couldn’t get Facebook on it, but it was useful sometimes.
• Servo has feet? (He claims to be typing with them.)
• “Is that your head or did your neck blow a bubble?” is a joke already used in an earlier episode. Sounds like it might have been a heckler putdown from Josh’s standup act.
• Callback: “Did these guys fly in on SST Death Flight?”
• This movie’s just chock full of late-’70s casual hooking up. Quite the time capsule.
• Servo coughs and kind of chokes in the theater.
• Servo seems to be malfunctioning in the theater. At one point he falls over into Joel’s lap. Joel casually shovels him back the other way. He recovers, mumbling something about “narcolepsy.” Later he sags to one side and suggests Joel needs to adjust his “equilibrium functions.” For a lot of the episode he bobs up and down in the seat as if Josh is having trouble holding him steady.
• Joel is smoking in segment 2 in order to telegraph that he’s a being a jerk. That segment reminds me of the host segment in episode guide: 608- CODE NAME: DIAMOND HEAD in which Mike is mean to the bots.
• Some of the clips in the montage in segment 3 appear to be from K01, K02 and K03, of which no fan copies are known to exist.
• What do you bet they didn’t clear that Louis Armstrong song they used in the montage in segment 3?
• As they enter the theater after segment 3, Crow gets into his seat and then adjusts his position with a lovely mechanical noise.
• As the fan club address appears on the screen, Crow says, apparently to the audience, “Don’t call. Write.” This would appear to be the official shift away from taking phone calls and in the direction of letters.
• At one point toward the end, Joel admits to being completely unable to think of anything funny to say. This prompts Servo to recall the flashback in the opening segment, in which Crow ruins Servo’s attempt to get the Mads to bring them down to Earth. The two bots begin bickering. It’s a strange moment.
• Minneapolis joke: An overhead shot of the seats in the Superdome prompts Crow to identify it as “The Guthrie.”
• Movie stuff: There are a lot of extras in this thing. Were they all actors, or did they just shoot this on game day? I wonder what marching band that is that gets so much screen time. It’s not named in the end credits.
• Also, the announcer keeps hyping the madness that has descended on New Orleans with the arrival of the Super Bowl. He’s really overselling it. It’s not like New Orleans has never had tourists visit it before.
• J&tB stand up in the theater for the national anthem.
• It’s interesting that the fan club membership cards appear to be the same ones that were handed out for years later. Maybe they bought a whole bunch in the initial order?
• If you want to read that newsletter Joel is holding, it’s here.
• Although the final host segment was saved from oblivion, the closing credits of that show were not. If you have the copy of this that includes the final host segment, that DVD includes the closing credits from episode K20 “just for consistency.”
• Cast and crew roundup: director Jerry Jameson also directed “It Lives By Night.” Score composer John Cacavas also worked on “SST- Death Flight” and “Hangar 18.” In front of the camera, David Janssen was also in “Marooned” aka “Space Travelers.” Van Johnson also appeared in “San Francisco International.” Ed Nelson was also in “Teenage Caveman,” “Swamp Diamonds,” “Night of the Blood Beast” and “Riding With Death. Michael Pataki was also in “The Side Hackers” and “It Lives By Night.”
• Fave riff: “And a gun FOR the doberman!” Honorable mention: “Women cause weak knees. It’s a fact!”

67 comments to Episode guide: K15- Superdome

And thus we have the second of three has-been star studded made for TV movie features of the KTMA season. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago I do have a soft spot in my heart for this type of film. Though the movie itself wasn’t as good as SST Deathflight. To my thinking it didn’t have as many “stars” either. But it does have one of my favorite Dallas stars: Susan Howard.

Hey what’s with the Cougars stealing the Thundercats logo?

The host segments in this episode were fun. It was a nice little homage to those highlights clip episodes just about any TV show of any length has done even if only two of the segments are actual legitimate MST flashbacks. But I’m shocked the freezing of Crow wasn’t included.

Favorite Riffs:
Crow: Did these guys fly in on SST: Death Flight?

Crow: I have a bad feeling about her. Maybe it’s the camera angle. Or the wallpaper.

Another ‘made for T.V. movie that I am sure KTMA got in a package deal.

There is no way the program director said,
“Yes! That is they type of movie I want running on MY station.”

A football movie that has no actual football in it, and all the stars of a disaster picture, without any disaster (on the screen I mean, not in the script). Unfortunately, this was another film that was just beyond our neophyte crew’s ability to save. The easy nature of the KTMA Season bled into the glacial pace of this “high action” murder mystery and I was actually more interested in the Host Segments than the film segments.

It was harder to find any information of this film then it was to research SST: Death Flight, but a few interesting tidbits did surface. It was released under three names, “Superdome,” “Countdown to the Super Bowl,” and “Super Bowl Story.” The director, if he used his real name, was Jerry Jameson, who had a long and distinguished career directing over sixty-eight TV movies and many top-notch shows. The screenwriter, Barry Oringer, also enjoyed a long run on TV writing episodes of Mannix, Name of the Game, Medical Center, and Barnaby Jones. All with better pacing than this film.

One thing I do find interesting in these “made for TV” movies, are the “up and coming” stars they promote, who we never see again, and the “cast members” who go on to be established actors. You see this a lot in MST3K offerings. The opening credits will say “And Introducing Patricia Noname,” but Clint Eastwood will have an uncredited walk on.

How Tom Selleck ever survived his early career, to become an established name, is beyond me. With movies like this one, Terminal Island, Daughters of Satan, Coma, and Myra Breckinridge, on his resume how did he keep getting jobs?

The good thing about this movie is that it serves as an educational tool for young screen writers. The first ten minutes of dialogue is only plot exposition. Nothing is said that does not set up why this all-star cast is in town and what would happen if things went wrong. (“As long as the QB stays health, and the backup QB doesn’t injure himself again, we should win this game all important game”)

The next lesson is the “generation gap” that must be explored in all movies made after 1970. The young, hot, “Pepsi Generation” girl must show the older “Pabst Blue Ribbon” man that there is still excitement of life. “If it feels good, do it” is the only reason these young hot blonds have any position of authority in these films.

The host segments made this a watchable episode in my opinion. Servo, writing a letter to a mythical Uncle claims to be able to write with is feet. Though I don’t know why they just did not say it was a voice activated typewriter borrowed from Gary Seven’. His attempt to get them all rescued, only to have Crow come along and mess it up, was almost a homage to Gilligan’s Island.

The show has only been on fifteen times and already they are having a “flashback” episode? This is like a band that has two albums, one hit and the next work is a “Best of” offering. An ingenious idea rivaling the “Award” episode from “The Critic.”

And interesting event to stifle MSTiee lore occurs during this episode. After the first host segment Tom enters the theater by himself. Crow then enters, apologizes to Joel and must leave the row so Joel can have his rightful seat. How did Tom get into the theater? Isn’t there an air grate by the door that he can’t hover over? Or did Tom just walk over it with the same tool he used to type with earlier? And why must Crow exit the row so Joel can enter? Is there a row of seats in front them? Who are these extra seats for? Did the SOL have a bigger crew at one time?

Devoted fans will be arguing about these inconsistencies well into the wee hours. It may even eclipse the Joel Vs. Mike Flame wars of the last century.

This episode also features the first generic riff. One that lets everyone know this is a bad film worthy of MST3K.

23:10 – “This would fall under the category of plot facets we don’t care about.”

Which brings us to “favorite Riffs”

14:43 – “What Railroad did those get hired off of” (Blazing Saddles)

21:50 – “You want to see a Shrink? What for?” – Dave
“I want to be smaller?” – Crow

In the Host Segment 3 flashback, Joel, cigarette I hand, says, “I’m not usually this way, it’s Servo’s perception of me.”
(I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way)

And the classic line, never to be heard again on MST3K:
82:15 – “I can’t say anything funny about this. I’m at a loss.” – Joel

I was surprised, in the end credits, to see that this movie had the “Television Code” seal of approval. With all the loose morals, wanton murder, and flagrant stereotypes, you would think that the code would have been bent just a little. But I guess not.

I did not get to see the now famous “missing “ final host segment. My copy is older and does not have it restored. I understand it is on Google Video so I will try and find it there.

My copy has TERRIBLE sound. I’ve sat thru it before, but just didn’t feel like listening to the muddy audio again.

I find the footage around the Dome and some of the other shots around New Orleans interesting, since it’s greatly changed now. The Dome is now surrounded by a few tall skyscrapers, a much-expanded Interstate and the New Orleans Hornets arena. Oh, and the crappy New Orleans airport has maybe gotten into the 80’s nowadays. It was still a 60’s airport during the 80s.

Sampo: For you kids, that unfamiliar object is called a “typewriter.” You couldn’t get Facebook on it, but it was useful sometimes.

Now tell them about how gasoline used to be twenty-five cents a gallon and station attendants would fill it up for you while also checking your oil and cleaning your windshield. They’ll think you’re making that up too. So you’ll just have to yell at them to get off your lawn.

White Shadow’s wife: “Do you know how long it’s been since we made love?”

I dislike football and corporate-controlled sports on principle, so any story exploring the seedy underbelly of this corrupt enterprise appeals to me. But this is some soapy network TV crap. So crappy that I can’t imagine why ABC wouldn’t license this to Shout! for a DVD release. Other than the MST3K connection, this is dead weight occupying space in their film library.

As a TV movie it’s probably better than SST Death Flight but as an MST episode it’s not quite as fun. Like the guys say at the end, we never even see any football action, though we are shown a lot of the Superdome itself, which was a fairly new structure at the time. Wikipedia says it opened August 1975, and that “the first Super Bowl played in the stadium was Super Bowl XII in January 1978, the first in prime time.” According to Daddy-O, this film was made in ’77 and aired January 1978. That’s good synergy…

Hate to play the race card, but it’s true: the first 15 minutes of this flick feature the most African-Americans with speaking roles in any MST film ever. There are black folk aplenty later in Jungle Goddess and Leech Woman, but most there were extras and/or stock footage.

Among the more familiar (white, blond) faces I recognized here are broads from Dallas (Susan Howard as Nancy) and General Hospital (Robin Mattson as Gail, in the brown one-piece swimsuit). Donna Mills, looking like the poor man’s Farrah Fawcett (though a much better actress), plays the complex role of the palm-reading, free-loving, assassin Lainie.

There are a lot of in-theater antics that I enjoy more than the actual riffing. Trace makes whirring noises as Crow lowers himself into his seat (“Comfy – heheheh”), and also does a dead on David Janssen impression. Joel sneezes into Van Johnson’s tie then mistakenly calls him “Van Morrison,” and admits after a long silence during a heavy scene, “I can’t say anything funny about this. I’m just at a loss. Can you?” Later, after trading some insults, Servo tries to hit Crow.

Seems weird for a show only 15 episodes in to resort to the “clip-show montage” device during the host segments, but at least Servo acknowledges the artifice. One features another “load pan” reference while an angry Joel wears an ascot and smokes a cigarette.
J: You left your load pans out. After recharge, you know the rule.
C: Well it was Servo’s turn to take…
S: I told you, I’m not doing your load.

And in the intro, Servo mentions “dehydrated mango juice” – it just isn’t the same, especially when you have to rub it on yourself. My copy has the “missing” final host segment so I never saw this without it. The drawings are cool: some more “mango juice” here too.

Has it really been 6 years since the final host segment was “discovered”? Teresa used to post on the MST3K discussion board, which is where she made the announcement, but she’s been absent for a long time. I spoke with her once. I think she’s a fashion designer.

I’ll see if I can locate the thread where the announcement occurred. It seems appropriate for today’s thread.

Richard: Fixed your “Bowel” typo. You’re welcome. As for the grate, Servo seems to come and go in the theater freely and very seldom asks to be carried during the KTMA era. Perhaps the air grate is a season 1 phenomenon.

Don’t get me started on the typewriter. I learned to type on one (even though my high school had computers by then), and my shop teacher was the female reincarnate of Hitler (not an exaggeration). She despised technology. However, I guess the fact that I know how to use one isn’t really that bad.

Love this episode. Not quite as fun as SST Death Flight, and it’s not even the best KTMA (though it is one of the stronger ones, IMO), but still probably my favorite from the season. Something about it just clicks for me. “Magnum, Deep Fried”.

I’m sure this has been pointed out numerous times, but how ironic is it for years we had everything BUT the final host segment, and Teresa ONLY had the final host segment? Stuff like that gives me hope that K01-K03 are still out there somewhere…

This one was kind of a dud for me, not since the early Gamera ones have J&TB gone for so long without saying anything. I got the impression they hadn’t screened this one in advance, or at least not much of it. The montage and clip-oriented host segments also tend would lead me to believe they didn’t spend a lot of time on this episode.

Even from a tv movie standpoint, the plot is pretty over the top. Does Lainie-Abby Ewing-Cunningham-Sumner want to deep fry Tom Selleck moments before game time so that the other team will win? Wouldn’t they postpone the game if something like that happened? The story seems to be a standard crime thriller transposed onto a football game.

As one of the bots points out, this movie has no mystery and no science. Makes me think the brains had some success with SST Deathflight and thought, “hey,this will work for any movie”, and then discovered some movies don’t riff themselves.

Speaking of clip shows. My favorite parody of them is the second episode of Clerks: The Animated series. Where in; the cast is locked in a freezer and flashes back to the last episode, which is the only other episode at that point and happened a week ago in the show’s time frame.

#13 (Larry): I agree, I like this episode, too! Yeah, it has the standard dearth of riffs found in most of the KTMAs, but if you know that going into it, it’s fine. The movie is cheesy enough to be somewhat entertaining without a riff every few seconds.

This episode did not click with me as much as SST: Death Flight. I found the first half of the movie to be very slow and boring. I did enjoy the host segments and J&TB’s antics in the theater segments. With the exception of a Superdome and football uniforms there is no football in SUPERDOME.

I like it. The movie’s good, typical star-studded pseudo-disaster movie. The host segments are fun too (I remember hearing somewhere that they were specifically referencing Family Ties with the flashbacks but I could be wrong).

Just finished watching this at work (while I still have one! ). Anything would be an improvement over last week’s “Mighty Jack” experiment, especially another made-for-TV 70’s disaster movie packed with recognizable faces. It’s no “SST Death Flight” (the Bert Convy magic is MIA baby!) but “Superdome” packs above-average host segments that make it, along with the improved pace of riffs (most of them unmemorable but Joel and the Bots at least hammer away at the movie), one of the better KTMA experiments so far. In addition to the sea of pretty faces (Tom Selleck, Donna Mills, Susan Howard, Dick Butkas , etc.) it was cool to see character actors like Michael Pataki, Van Johnson and M. Emmet Walsh in small supporting roles. I loved when J&TB started simulating the exhaustion and body noises David Janssen made when he was making out with Mills (stupid and childish but damn funny). When it’s clear no football game will be played (or shown) the gags, like standing up during the National Anthem, become ridiculously sublime. As with every KTMA experiment though you’re still watching a movie most of the time (though the riff percentage is double-digits higher than KTMA-04’s pace). “Superdome,” at its core, is just a dull ‘whodunit’ thriller that (a) reveals the killer’s identity too early (mystery vanishes and thus movie gets boring from that moment on) and (b) uses lots of New Orleans-location footage to hide the fact very little of interest is happening. A daughter almost dies to get her father a contract he desperately needs. A football player’s wife has an affair to get her man’s attention. Another player’s gambling debts (of which his wife is a part of) triggers the whole ‘assassin on the loose’ subplot. Butkas lands in jail and doesn’t appear until we’re 63 minutes into the movie. Whoop-a-di-do, who freaking cares?

The Brains obviously remembered this episode’s ‘Servo writes a letter’ structure during production of Season 2’s “The Hellcats” when they decided to do host segment flahbacks on the cheap. Since “Superdome” actually features episode-specific host segments poking fun at flashbacks (‘evil Joel’ smoking a cigar and being mean had me rolling! ) this is a KTMA episode that, at least conceptually and creatively (while also grading on the KTMA curve), could be compared favorably to a regular “MST3K” episode from the national run and be considered equal or better. The lackluster riffing and Kevin-as-Servo voice eventually give the edge to “Hellcats” over “Superdome,” but not by THAT much. I’m surprised reading here criticism that The Brains went too soon to the ‘flashback’ gag on only their 15th episode. First, they didn’t know they would go national (season ZERO, remember?); second, they weren’t getting paid enough to worry about consistency (hence they’re allowed to take shortcuts putting together what was essentially their hobby). And, last but not least, “Clerks: The Animated Series” already beat them as the show that’s used the ‘flashback’ gag quickest (2nd episode after the pilot, IF you watch the show’s episodes on DVD in chronological order). Actually, 20+ years removed from when they did these host segments and with the huge kick of nostalgia of knowing how well these guys did (the “MST3K” run, their stand-up/writing careers, “Cinematic Titanic,” etc.), I actually was moved to almost-tears by the Louis Armstrong song showing those primitive-by-our-removed-from-its-original-time-and-place images of a young Joel and barely-held-together puppets frolicking about having a good time. The Mads too (darn it, if Crow hadn’t interrupted Servo’s plan “MST3K” would have stopped at “Superdome”…. sad, ain’t it?) but then again, I’m a sucker for any well put-together montage that uses Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ as musical backdrop. Remember the ending of “12 Monkeys”?

THREE-AND-A-HALF STARS (out of five) for both the KTMA experiment and “Superdome.” FAVORITE RIFF:‘A football movie for the football illiterate’ (indeed!).

That woman complaining about not having sex with her husband baffled me. I mean, the the football season is what, 5 months? While I’m not saying it wouldn’t be a hardship, it’s not like he’s overseas for years, like some soldier’s spouses have to deal with.

Then again, I’m overthinking things, but still, I thought he should have left her and found someone less whiny.

Anyway, nice to see David Janssen. That was about the only redeeming quality this had for me. And I can’t remember any of the jokes.

Finally DID see the missing end segment. It is on Google Video.
Nothing special but it was nice to see all the drawings people sent them.
It is also interesting to see how children drew Crow.
They get Tom right, but they usually give Crow a box body.

I admit I enjoy watching the KTMAs. Will I watch them again anytime soon? No. It is fun to talk about them because we may not discusss them on Satellite News for a long time. Maybe never again in depth.

Lots of comments here. I have softened my view on the KTMA era. Think of it as a learning phase. Lets take this and add this and see how it works. Ok we can do this part better. Are they rough and sometimes hard to watch? Yes. Are they truly unwatchable? No.
This film without the riffs is bad even for bad tv movies. Case in point it “is” called superdome and guess what? You see alot of superdome and no football. I thought this was one of the better shows from this season. That said one can see why they started to do scripted shows next season which was a huge improvement.
Every episode after KTMA was built on the work done here with no budget, lots of imagination, thrift stores, improv and great people.
Hikeeba!

Another mild time at the KTMA studios. Despite some highlights, this episode never really catches on with me, kinda funny riffing, a sorta watchable movie…eh, this is no Deathflight, that’s for sure.

As a football fan, I have to say this has the least amount of football in any football movie I’ve ever seen.

And by the way, what city were the Cougars from anyway? And who were their opponents even? You see, a football movie with no football information, isn’t much of a football movie.

I liked in the opening scene, where the Mads are coming outta the flashback and they’re repeating, “Butkas. Butkas…..Butkas…”

The Servo-typing-a-letter flashback segments aren’t the stuff of legend, although they do provide us with glimpses of K01, K02, &/or K03 in the montage (tastefully set to Louis Armstrong), which is pretty cool, and we also get to see Joel be mean and smoke a cigarette, which is weird.

Odd riff: Early in the movie, Crow says, “Boooiiiinnggg!!” after that guy offers that lady some catfish.

J&TB sing a little “Lay Lady Lay” then Servo lays his head in Joel’s lap, which is also weird.

These KTMA episodes are truly fascinating!!! I’ll be disappointed when there’s no more left. Season 1 is going to seem like quite a slog after this.

I got so into this season that I did a blitzkrieg viewing of the rest of the episodes and I have to say that the upside to finishing is “Legend of the Dinosaurs” is my favorite. The misplaced music cues are hilarious! It’s a shame they didn’t re-riff that one in season three.

I remember Selectrics. They were slightly faster than my Vista computer is working right now, except the keys kept getting confused when you exceeded 50 wpm. The Vista computer gets confused when you … well we won’t talk about that.

Brandon: You said your dad hated MST3K, but this was back during the KTMA era. Did his opinions of the show ever change over the course of time, as the show moved to Comedy Central and evolved?

Teresa: He just never really got into MST3K or the comedy channels. He never watches stand-up and he’s not into cult movies or anything like that as far as I know. He’s just one of those old guys who rents movies, tapes them onto VHS, then sticks them in a metal cabinet, never to watch them again. He’s got dozens of those cabinets surrounding him in his TV room. (He’s like some Ancient Keeper for the Crappy, Straight to VHS, EP-Recorded Movie Archives of Ancient Yore.)

Brandon: Since you were exposed to Josh Weinstein’s Servo voice first, what was your opinion of Kevin Murphy when he took over the character in 1990?

Teresa: I thought he did allright. Every time there was a voice shift it took a little while to get used to. (In fact, I found it hard to watch Trace and Bill-voiced Crow episodes back to back for awhile, because the voice shift weirded me out so much.)

Brandon: What is your overall opinion of the KTMA episodes? The Brains themselves have little to say about them, and even the most die-hard fan might admit they’re nowhere near as good as the later shows. What do you think of them? The only KTMA episode I’ve ever seen is SST Death Flight, which had some decent riffs.

Teresa: The old KTMA episodes have a lot of nostalgia appeal to me of course. They’re only bad in comparison to the later shows, but at the time I was watching them, I thought they were the funniest thing in the world. (They were unlike anything else I had ever seen, with their snarky, spontaneous candor . Most other comedy at that time was polished and professional and, well, kind of bland in comparison. Then there was the whole cult appeal of the KTMA series as well. ) Since they were what introduced me to the MST3K world, they hold a special place in my heart.

This is another one I wish they’d given another shot later in the series. At least Joel would’ve been spared having to say he was at a loss for a riff. When Michael Pataki appears on screen, I can just hear one of the guys going, “What? This movie has football and sidehacking?”

Also, the announcer keeps hyping the madness that has descended on New Orleans with the arrival of the Super Bowl. He’s really overselling it. It’s not like New Orleans has never had tourists visit it before.

Remember this was back during the Aints era and the paper bags of shame. So it was the first time two competent teams were playing at the Superdome (for the record, the game was Dallas beating Denver 27-10).

In Superbowl, Crow is complaining about how Joel is “really” a mean guy, & we get a scene in Crow’s imagination where Joel demonstrates what he’s “really” like. In Code Name Diamond Head, Crow & Tom are complaining about how boringly nice Mike is, whereupon Magic Voice & Cambot teach them to appreciate Mike’s niceness by creating a fantasy not-nice Mike who acts like the scoutmaster in This Boy’s Life. The segments are only vaguely similar.

When people talk about the KTMA movies that should have been included among those that were re-done later, they often mention “SST Death Flight” or “The ‘Legend of Dinosaurs'”, which were actually pretty good the first time around. For me, it makes more sense to remake something that didn’t work out as well as it could have, so my first candidates are the movies that were much harder to crack than the typical Sandy Frank fare, the movies that would have required the full writing powers of the later seasons to do them justice. “Superdome” is the first one of those that comes to mind.

Maybe it’s because of the slow riffing, but whenever I watch K15, I always find myself imagining what a redone version in a later season would be like. I always see it somehow as a Mike episode, because Mike (or at least his MST3K persona) strikes me as more of a “football guy” than Joel. I can see them setting it up in much the same way they did Hamlet: the Mads lose a bet with Mike and let him pick anything he wants, so Mike tells them to send him some football, figuring that’s a pretty safe choice. The Mads commiserate, and end up sending him a football movie … without any football! Mwahahahahaaaaa!!!

“Superdome” may be a really dull soap opera disguised as a football movie, but with good writing, I can see it working as MST3K fodder in much the same way that the “General Hospital” shorts in Season 4 did. But, since that didn’t happen, I’m just glad that we finally have a complete version of K15. I’m still amazed that we have an almost-complete KTMA archive, given that these episodes aired in such a small market so many years ago. Three cheers once again to those first MSTies in the Twin Cities for saving them for us, and especially to Teresa Dietzinger for providing the missing ending!

@#53: No disrespect to the Twin Cities intended! I was only referring to the relatively small audience that poor little KTMA was able to reach, compared to the national audience. I’m glad that it included devoted fans armed with VCRs, because so many of these classic shows would otherwise be lost to us.

Not a bad season K episode. A cut below SST-Deathflight. At least they didn’t have any football cluttering up their football movie. This seemed to be a crime drama that wanted to be a disaster film but had to settle for mob intrigue since their wasn’t a hurricane or volcano looming.

I don’t care for sports in general, but football singularly bores me because whenever I watch an actual game (not just highlights that are always impressive looking) I see two teams of rigorously trained, chemically enhanced, prime physical specimens who are masters of a game with a rulebook that compares to a municipal code in complexity, face off against each other and spring into action… by making a huge manpile. Then the referee signals the mass of man meat to get off of each other so they can regroup, face off, and once again use their training, skill, and stamina… to make another manpile. Which is followed by separation, regrouping, facing off, and another manpile.

Now, I don’t have anything against manpiles per se, but they hold no entertainment value for me. Neither as a participant or a spectator. Which makes the American cult of football both baffling and tedious to me.

That said, would it have killed them to give us a brief montage at the end to let us know who won the damn game.

For those who might be interested, non-MST’ed “Superdome” is available on DVD–in the hard-to-search “5 Action Movies” set from Echo Bridge. It’s teamed up with “The Day the Earth Moved,” “The President’s Plane is Missing,” “Airline Disaster,” and Antonio Sabato Jr’s “Crash Landing.”

NOTE: That’s five ninety-minute movies crowded on one DVD, so no, it’s not the best resolution. But it’s likely to be the best we’re going to see for this. If you want it, get it while you can.

Echo Bridge also has “SST Death Flight” on their “6-Movie Disaster Pack 2″ (as “Death Flight”). It’s the European theatrical version with bare boobies! The two-disc set provides somewhat better copies of “Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland” and the execrable “Miami Magma,” “Epicenter,” “Scorcher,” and “Countdown: Armageddon.”

Did the end of this movie remind anyone else of the ending of the original Red Dawn where the voice over told us that “The war eventually ended, as all wars do”, but didn’t bother mentioning who won the darn war? Let alone what the geopolitical ramifications were. For all we know the great powers exhausted themselves allowing Costa Rica to establish a global empire.

As someone who had to go through elementary school with the last name Cox, I sympathize with Mr. Dick Butt-kiss (I’m using elementary school spelling). That had to have been rough, even for an athletic kid.

As the players were getting off the plane someone joked about Jesus being an inadequate football player. While the Jesus of the Gospels would probably give the ball away and stand between the two teams to prevent conflict, the Jesus of The Book of Revelation would just have an Angel stuff the opposing team, along with everyone else he doesn’t like, into The Winepress of the Wrath of God (Revelation 14:19~20) to be pressed into a sea of blood deep enough to drown a horse and sixteen hundred furlongs in area. Wouldn’t want to be at the stadium that day.

Socrates was a War Veteran noted for his bravery and calm in battle, but I doubt he was beefy enough for football.

Wow it’s hard to believe a movie that is based on football is so boring. Joel & the bots seem kind of quiet in this episode. Although my favorite part is at the end when Servo is continuing to ask who won. The host segments are work pretty good I think.

“Superdome”. Another 70s movie-of-the-week, that ironically aired right before Super Bowl XII, the first one held indoors (at, of course, the Superdome). Also, the first Super Bowl I remember watching. I was eight years old and rooted for Denver, because my Dad was a Washington Redskins fan who hated the Cowboys. For the record, Dad is still alive, and still hates the Cowboys.

I remember the commercials previewing the movie, which promote a thrilling film containing intrigue and danger, like “Two Minute Warning” did a couple of years before, and “Black Sunday” did shortly after. While of course, the movie offers nothing of the sort. Joel and the Bots riff a somewhat watchable, dull film that promised football scenes, but contained no football. We could have had scenes with Archie Manning getting sacked, back when the Saints were terrible.

Also, how could a movie set in New Orleans be so dull? No French Quarter scenes? No scenes with Dick Butkus’ character propositioning an undercover cop posing as a transvestite hooker? Nothing with Tom Selleck suffering a monster hangover after eight hurricanes the night before? Only JatB make this film anything better than a time-waster.

“Superdome”. Another 70s movie-of-the-week, that ironically aired right before Super Bowl XII, the first one held indoors (at, of course, the Superdome). Also, Super Bowl XII was the first Super Bowl I remember watching. I was eight years old and rooted for Denver, because my Dad was a Washington Redskins fan who hated the Cowboys. For the record, Dad is still alive, and still hates the Cowboys.

I remember the commercials previewing the movie, which promote a thrilling film containing intrigue and danger, like “Two Minute Warning” did a couple of years before, and “Black Sunday” did shortly after. While of course, the movie offers nothing of the sort. Joel and the Bots riff a somewhat watchable, dull film that promised football scenes, but contained no football. We could have had scenes with Archie Manning getting sacked, back when the Saints were terrible.

Also, how could a movie set in New Orleans be so dull? No French Quarter scenes? No scenes with Dick Butkus’ character propositioning an undercover cop posing as a transvestite hooker? Nothing with Tom Selleck suffering a monster hangover after eight hurricanes the night before? Only JatB make this film anything better than a time-waster.

Satellite News is the official fan site for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 television series. It is endorsed by Best Brains, Inc. but is an independent publication written and compiled by Chris Cornell (msampo@aol.com) and Brian Henry (erhardt4@aol.com). Best Brains, Inc. does not maintain this web site, nor is it responsible for this site's content.

The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Best Brains, Inc. No warranty is expressed or implied that the information given herein is completely accurate, and in fact this information can and will change at any time. So there.

Mystery Science Theater 3000, its characters and situations are copyrights and trademarks of Best Brains, Inc.